RAPIDROID RELOADED: June-2016 featuring Chiron 3

Changing the basic rules on the fly must be the most terrific crossroads decision for any tester. I'm pretty sure that did not occur in CCRL, CEGT or SSDF. They should have never been forced to rewind and fast forward everything. Did they really? No matter what, it's chaotic after thousands of games already played.

This had happened to Rapidroid amore than a year ago. I'd decided to restart from scratch after Jim Ablett's comeback in 2014 with dozens of updates and novelties. So i'd started over with many new engines almost doubling in number, resulting in "RAPIDROID RELOADED".

Time goes on and things happen again. At present, the time control fixes by Aart Bik on Chess for Android seem to provoke a similar reform, a complete cleanup.

Most XB engines have benefited from full compatibility with CECP protocol, including many engines previously considered incompatible with Rapidroid. UCI engines are also subject to slight performance changes, given that the increments are sent correctly now.

Decision: Everything must be reconstructed ...but without going insane.

What have i done for that:

* Despecified fixed time per move except for manual games where necessary.

* Changed standard time control to 900+2 to 900+1 for all automated tourneys.

* Started to replay all rounds from 1 to 19, introducing all qualified new engines as well as updated ones and excluding all disqualified engines.

* Preserved old games of the rounds that are not yet replayed to avoid premature ELOs.

I think this is the most economical scenario to ensure a smooth transformation. There are advantages like seeing all new and updated engines together at once, even with wider error margins. So, each round replayed will sweep away below listed disqualified engines and switch to common time control of 900+1. Consequently, i've already finished replaying 2 rounds out of 19 and i hope further rounds will go quicker.

The highlights of this release are countless:

* ADDED Beowulf_2.4a.JA_xb

* ADDED Bruja_1.9.1.JA_xb

* ADDED Chiron 3 (The strongest newcomer, more than 3000 ELO)

* ADDED Cinnamon 2.0 (a weak SMP engine)

* ADDED DanaSah 6 Random (a random mover)

* ADDED Darky_0.5d.JA_xb

* ADDED Fairymax_4.8V.JA_xb

* ADDED Gk_0.90.JA_xb

* ADDED Gullydeckel_2.15.pl10.JA_xb

* ADDED Laser_0.2beta.JA_uci2xb

* ADDED Micromax_4.8W.JA_xb

* ADDED Mizar_3.0.JA_xb (works with a terrible time management)

* ADDED MorphyChess_1.05.JA_xb

* ADDED Purplehaze_2.10.JA_xb.old (a newer build is available but plays slightly weaker)

* ADDED Rodin v8.00

* ADDED Romichess_p3k.JA_xb

* ADDED Soldat-III_0.178.JA_xb

* ADDED Sunsetter_C10.JA_xb

* ADDED Toledo_Nano_2010.JA_xb

* UPDATED Cheese 1.7 to 1.8

* UPDATED DanaSah 5.07 to 6.1

* UPDATED GreKo 12.5 to 2015

* UPDATED K2 0.75 to 0.83

* UPDATED Komodo 9.3 to 9.42 (Partial May-2016 release doesn't count!)

* UPDATED Natwarlal_0.14.JA_xb to a previous compile (works OK with 900+1)

* UPDATED Rhetoric 1.4.1 to 1.4.3

* UPDATED Sayuri 2015.10.01 to 2016.04.09

* DISQUALIFIED DanChess_1.04.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Faile_1.44.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Jester_0.84.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Kitteneitor_060513.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Knightcap_3.7F.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED MangoPaola_1.1.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Samchess_JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Typhoon_1.0.r358.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Witz_Alpha21.JA_xb

* DISQUALIFIED Woodpecker_2.11.JA_xb

From 122 engines released in April-2016, Rapidroid finally comes to 122 + 19 = 141 engines which is the highest so far. The disqualified engines are scheduled to fade out step by step until 131 qualified engines will remain when all 19 rounds will be fully replayed.

I hereby invite all followers to notify me about any engine capable of playing automated games with Fischer clocks but still absent in Rapidroid.

Targets for next release:

* Introduce ArkanChess 0.0 aka Paladin 0.1


BAYES RATINGS AFTER 17199 GAMES PLAYED BY 141 PROGRAMS
Rnk Name                        O/S T TC  Elo   +   - Gam Sco Oppo Dra
001 Stockfish 7                 A32 4 bf 3322  38  36 346 84% 3057 28%
002 Komodo 9.42                 A32 4 bf 3284  36  34 346 79% 3061 28%
003 Critter 1.6a                A32 4 bf 3121  30  30 354 57% 3077 46%
004 Sting SF 4.8.4 JA           A32 4 bf 3077  31  31 348 55% 3041 38%
005 Firenzina 2.4.1 xTreme      A32 4 bf 3072  30  30 350 50% 3074 46%
006 BlackMamba 2.0              A32 4 bf 3054  30  30 350 47% 3077 48%
007 Chiron 3                    A32 4 bf 3050  95  92  38 61% 2966 42%
008 Rybka 2.3.2a mp             W64 4 bf 3044 109 108  26 54% 3017 38%
009 Gull 3 x64 (syzygy)         A32 4 bf 3040  31  31 346 54% 3015 43%
010 Fritz 14                    A32 4 bf 3030  30  30 346 46% 3059 46%
011 Texel 1.05                  A32 4 bf 3016  31  31 354 49% 3026 35%
012 Senpai 1.0                  A32 4 bf 2986  31  31 350 50% 2987 37%
013 DeepSaros ver.2.3f          A32 4 bf 2981  31  31 346 51% 2976 37%
014 RobboLito 0.085e4l          A32 1 bf 2954  30  30 350 52% 2945 43%
015 Hiarcs 13.71                IOS 2 bf 2953 121 114  26 65% 2843 23%
016 IvanHoe 9.47c beta          A32 1 bf 2946  31  31 348 55% 2914 39%
017 Cheng 4.39                  A32 4 bf 2909  31  31 346 41% 2975 39%
018 Arasan 18.3                 A32 4 bf 2892  31  31 346 53% 2868 36%
019 Shredder 1.7.0              IOS 2  b 2891 115 113  24 54% 2874 42%
020 Hakkapeliitta 3.0           A32 1 bf 2878  31  31 346 49% 2889 33%
021 ExChess_7.88b.JA_xb.arm7    A32 4  b 2878  31  31 334 46% 2911 38%
022 Scorpio_2.7.7.JA_xb.arm7    A32 4 Bf 2859  34  34 306 55% 2826 32%
023 Gaviota v1.0-d              A32 4 bf 2858  31  31 354 43% 2904 32%
024 Grapefruit 1.0              A32 4 bf 2824  30  30 358 48% 2834 41%
025 Toga II 3.0                 A32 1 bf 2801  30  30 342 52% 2791 40%
026 DiscoCheck 5.2.1            A32 1 bf 2798  31  31 358 43% 2849 30%
027 Deep Saros 0.9              A32 4 bf 2784  30  31 352 44% 2827 38%
028 Doch32 1.3.4 JA             A32 1  b 2761  31  31 334 52% 2750 37%
029 Crafty_25.0.JA_xb.arm7      A32 1 bf 2747  31  31 336 53% 2723 34%
030 Fruit Reloaded 2.1          A32 1  b 2745  31  31 330 50% 2741 43%
031 Murka 3                     A32 1 bf 2737  29  29 370 49% 2745 39%
032 Deuterium v14.3.34.130      A32 1 bf 2734  30  30 360 48% 2747 35%
033 Bobcat 6.4b                 A32 1 bf 2730  31  31 348 48% 2744 31%
034 Chess Pro 2016.02           IOS 2 bf 2724 112 114  22 45% 2753 55%
035 GNU Chess 5.60              A32 1 bf 2707  31  31 342 48% 2720 33%
036 The King 3.50 x64           W64 1  b 2702  53  53 114 42% 2756 34%
037 Strelka 5                   A32 1 bf 2681  32  32 332 52% 2669 30%
038 Rodent II 0.8.7             A32 1  b 2657  34  35 282 48% 2671 33%
039 RedQueen 1.1.98             A32 4 bf 2648  33  33 322 52% 2630 26%
040 Tucano_6.00.JA_xb.arm5      A32 1 Bf 2641  34  34 276 50% 2638 39%
041 Rhetoric 1.4.1              A32 1 bf 2630  36  36 274 56% 2582 27%
042 CNVCS 1.2.0                 IOS 2  f 2603 112 114  24 44% 2636 46%
043 Alfil 12.10                 A32 1 bf 2574  33  33 322 49% 2579 28%
044 Bison 15.1                  A32 1 bf 2565  34  34 316 47% 2592 26%
045 Cheese 1.8                  A32 1 bf 2558  33  33 320 50% 2565 27%
046 Chess Genius 4.0.00         IOS 2 bf 2537 197 256   8 13% 2793 25%
047 Daydreamer 1.75 JA          A32 1 bf 2517  33  33 304 49% 2525 36%
048 Rotor 0.8                   A32 1 bf 2507  33  33 316 42% 2565 30%
049 Chess Genius 2.6.4          A32 1 bf 2495 224 239   4 38% 2545 75%
050 Glaurung Mainz              A32 1  b 2483  39  39 240 46% 2512 24%
051 Fridolin 2.00               A32 4 bf 2483  33  32 310 51% 2477 32%
052 Bruja_1.9.1.JA_xb           A32 1  b 2483  96 102  40 36% 2591 13%
053 Sloppy_0.23.JA_xb           A32 1 Bf 2476  34  34 286 52% 2464 35%
054 Phalanx_XXIV.JA_xb.arm7     A32 1 Bf 2471  35  35 286 52% 2452 24%
055 GarboChess 3                A32 1 bf 2467  32  32 316 47% 2490 32%
056 DanaSah 6.1                 A32 1 bf 2460  93  97  40 40% 2542 20%
057 Dirty_030411.JA_xb          A32 1  f 2457  35  35 286 52% 2437 25%
058 GreKo_2015.JA_xb            A32 1 bf 2451  88  89  40 49% 2455 33%
059 Maverick 1.5 arm            A32 1 bf 2439  34  33 308 52% 2423 30%
060 Rodin v8.00                 A32 1 bf 2435 105 121  40 24% 2670  8%
061 BBChess 1.3b JA             A32 4 bf 2435  33  33 308 49% 2444 30%
062 Pawny_1.0.JA_uci2xb         A32 1 Bf 2422  33  33 308 54% 2388 32%
063 Laser_0.2beta.JA_uci2xb     A32 1  b 2407  87  89  40 43% 2460 35%
064 Pepito v1.59                A32 1 bf 2401  32  32 316 53% 2382 34%
065 BetsabeII_1.47.JA_xb        A32 1 Bf 2374  36  36 294 51% 2365 20%
066 K2 v.083                    A32 1  b 2348  90  89  40 51% 2337 33%
067 Ifrit_m1.8.JA_uci2xb        A32 1 Bf 2342  34  34 302 52% 2324 24%
068 Olithink_5.3.2.JA_xb        A32 1 Bf 2334  34  34 310 56% 2288 23%
069 Diablo 0.5.1b JA            A32 1 bf 2333  33  33 328 52% 2314 26%
070 Typhoon_1.0.r358.JA_xb      A32 1  f 2326  36  36 278 54% 2294 22%
071 zurichess geneva            A32 1  b 2321  47  47 164 51% 2321 27%
072 Amy_0.8.JA_xb               A32 1 bf 2294  34  34 332 53% 2270 21%
073 Bitfoot 150922.JA           A32 1 bf 2275  34  33 344 56% 2224 16%
074 TJchess 1.1U                A32 1 bf 2252  33  33 336 48% 2270 24%
075 Myrddin_0.86.JA_xb          A32 1 Bf 2250  35  35 318 50% 2245 19%
076 Natwarlal_0.14.JA_xb        A32 1 Bf 2244  33  33 328 48% 2258 23%
077 Sungorus 1.4 JA             A32 1 Bf 2239  33  33 330 51% 2231 22%
078 MangoPaola_1.1.JA_xb        A32 1 Bf 2235  36  37 284 48% 2248 21%
079 Gk_0.90.JA_xb               A32 1  b 2208 123 105  38 79% 1970 11%
080 Rattate_Nosferatu.JA_xb     A32 1 Bf 2194  34  34 338 51% 2183 15%
081 KmtChess_1.21.JA_xb         A32 1 Bf 2190  34  34 326 50% 2187 22%
082 NGplay_9.86.JA_xb           A32 1 Bf 2165  33  33 332 48% 2177 22%
083 Scidlet_2.61b2.JA_xb        A32 1 Bf 2164  34  34 338 51% 2156 16%
084 Beowulf_2.4a.JA_xb          A32 1  b 2158  95  92  40 59% 2094 23%
085 Resp_0.19.JA_xb             A32 1 bf 2137  33  33 352 47% 2159 20%
086 Romichess_p3k.JA_xb         A32 1  b 2126  93  96  40 41% 2182 23%
087 Floyd 0.7 JA                A32 1 bf 2121  34  34 348 57% 2065 14%
088 DanChess_1.04.JA_xb         A32 1  f 2106  36  36 300 55% 2068 18%
089 Kurt 0.9.2.2 JA             A32 1 bf 2062  33  33 356 48% 2084 19%
090 Cinnamon 2.0                A32 4 bf 2059  35  35 302 55% 2019 23%
091 Sunsetter_C10.JA_xb         A32 1  b 2058  95  98  40 44% 2104 18%
092 Robocide 28.12.14.JA        A32 1 bf 2045  32  32 378 51% 2040 18%
093 Witz_Alpha21.JA_xb          A32 1  f 2022  35  35 306 46% 2052 19%
094 Woodpecker_2.11.JA_xb       A32 1  f 2012  37  36 298 51% 2002 14%
095 AdroitChess0.4 JA           A32 1 bf 1988  33  33 350 48% 2006 16%
096 Knightcap_3.7F.JA_xb        A32 1  f 1987  36  36 280 52% 1975 20%
097 Purplehaze_2.10.JA_xb.old   A32 1  b 1979 103 100  38 58% 1918 11%
098 Sjeng_1.12.JA_xb            A32 1 Bf 1968  34  34 320 55% 1933 18%
099 Gullydeckel_2.15.pl10.JA_xb A32 1  b 1967  95  97  38 42% 2013 26%
100 BikJump v1.8                A32 1 bf 1955  31  32 378 43% 2006 22%
101 Micromax_4.8W.JA_xb         A32 1  b 1954  99  97  38 55% 1921 21%
102 Gunborg_1.39.JA_uci2xb      A32 1 Bf 1947  35  35 310 51% 1938 22%
103 Leonidas_r83.JA_xb          A32 1 Bf 1945  34  34 322 47% 1969 20%
104 Faile_1.44.JA_xb            A32 1  f 1942  35  35 276 52% 1931 33%
105 Samchess_JA_xb              A32 1  f 1936  37  37 286 48% 1949 17%
106 MorphyChess_1.05.JA_xb      A32 1  b 1926 106 101  36 63% 1829 19%
107 Soldat-III_0.178.JA_xb      A32 1  b 1921 101 102  38 47% 1942  5%
108 ZCT-0.3.2500                A32 1 bf 1921  34  34 344 43% 1976 14%
109 Cilian_4.14.JA_xb           A32 1 bf 1912  33  33 332 54% 1881 26%
110 Mephisto Roma Turbo         W64 1  b 1898  80  84  56 37% 2000 16%
111 Fairymax_4.8V.JA_xb         A32 1  b 1890  99 106  38 33% 2021 13%
112 Ecce rev. 508               A32 1 bf 1877  33  34 344 45% 1924 17%
113 Claudia v. 0.5              A32 1  b 1863  48  48 172 56% 1814 18%
114 Smash 1.03 JA               A32 1 bf 1859  33  33 348 52% 1849 16%
115 Surprise_4.3.b13.JA_xb      A32 1  b 1833  45  45 188 48% 1847 18%
116 Colchess_8.0.JA_xb          A32 1 Bf 1831  36  36 294 49% 1830 22%
117 Sayuri 2015.10.01           A32 4 bf 1801  36  36 286 44% 1845 23%
118 Hoichess_0.12.1.JA_xb       A32 1 bf 1767  34  34 328 48% 1774 20%
119 Zzzzzz_3.5.1.JA_xb          A32 1 Bf 1741  36  36 272 50% 1707 31%
120 Chenard_2015.08.15.JA_xb    A32 1 Bf 1735  41  41 274 53% 1662  9%
121 Jester_0.84.JA_xb           A32 1 Bf 1720  43  43 224 53% 1648 15%
122 Tscp_1.8.1.AB_xb            A32 1 Bf 1717  38  38 268 51% 1689 20%
123 Kitteneitor_060513.JA_xb    A32 1 Bf 1710  38  39 232 49% 1687 37%
124 Colossus 4.0 100X           C64 1 bf 1706 237 210  10 80% 1324 20%
125 Rocinante 2.0 JA            A32 1 bf 1690  36  36 318 49% 1657 21%
126 Darky_0.5d.JA_xb            A32 1  b 1658 100 106  36 38% 1749 14%
127 Pulse 1.5-cpp               A32 1 bf 1654  36  36 334 55% 1542 31%
128 Mephisto Roma 68020 UCI     W64 1  b 1653 125 134  20 35% 1756 30%
129 VIRUTOR CHESS 1.1.1         A32 1 bf 1527  42  42 314 58% 1387 12%
130 Mizar_3.0.JA_xb             A32 1  b 1475 132 121  36 76% 1148 14%
131 Superpawn b108 JA           A32 1  b 1466  47  46 220 59% 1365 22%
132 Chess for Android           A32 1 bf 1451  43  43 307 57% 1331 15%
133 Chess Titans                W64 1  f 1355 214 205   7 57% 1326 29%
134 Toledo_Nano_2010.JA_xb      A32 1  b 1270 114 116  36 54% 1171 31%
135 Trappy_Beowulf_2.0.JA_xb    A32 1 bf 1205  45  46 308 39% 1308 11%
136 Colossus 4.0                C64 1 bf 1184 172 194  14 36% 1274 14%
137 Byak 8.10.14.JA             A32 1  b 1105  49  51 226 26% 1341 19%
138 Xadreco_5.7.JA_xb           A32 1  b 1011  54  59 220 17% 1359 10%
139 Novag Secondo               TTC 1 bf  950 262  67   6 42%  978 17%
140 OliveChess 0.2.7            A32 1 Bf  624 289-251 210  2% 1474  0%
141 DanaSah 6.0 RND             A32 1 bf  478 470-397  36  1% 1259  3%

Rapidroid test platform:
* GT-N7100 1.6 * 4 + 256MB hash: All Android progs
* GT-N5105 1.6 * 4 + 256MB hash: All Android progs
* Codegen Novatab 1.4 * 4 + 256MB: Single thread Android progs,
* Polypad 1010IPS tablet 1.61 * 2 + 128MB: Single thread Android progs
* HTC Diam 528Mhz, 16MB hash: Windows Mobile
* i7 M620 2.67 Ghz dual + Arena 3.5 + 2GB hash: Windows 64
* iPhone5S A7 1.3 Ghz * 2: iOS progs
* DosBox 1.74: DOS progs
* WinVICE 2.24: Commodore-64 progs
* Messtiny UCI adapters or CB-Emu2014: Mephisto progs
* Openings: 20 ply Adam Hair or 16 ply TCEC, no Q exchange, +0.15 to +0.40
eval by Stockfish and Komodo, depth 20 minimum, played twice both sides
* Repeating openings and twin games not allowed between two programs
* Tablebases off and pondering off
* Time control: 600+0 to 1800+5 (optional 1/10 to 1/30 for manual games)

Calibration:
* Based on 52 engines rated in CCRL 40/4
* 32 bit engines: Exynos 4412 = (Athlon X2 4600+) - 65 ELO
* 64 bit engines: Exynos 4412 = (Athlon X2 4600+) - 110 ELO
* Bayeselo offset = 2264 (Mean of ELO error vs target: 73.28)

Termination stats:
* W:40.5% D:27.0% B:32.5% (54.0% vs 46.0%)

Legend:
* T = threads
* tc= f (playes fixed time only), b (plays Fischer clock only), bf (plays both)
* Bf stands for the engines recently qualified for Fisher clock too
* O/S: A32=Android 32bit, W64=Windows 64bit, C64=Commodore 64, TTC=Tabletop, IOS=iPhone

New Android UCI engine: Paladin 0.1 aka AnkanChess

This is the birth of a brand new chess engine written by Ankan Banerjee from India, according to the info i could collect about it. The author has various other apps, not just for chess. I've also seen some topics about some stuff that he has released about perft analysis.

I assume the engine is fully original, not a clone. It works okay as UCI engine on my Exynos 4410. I'll see for other CPU's too.

The build is for arm7 and it can be downloaded: HERE

Thanks go to Alex for sharing the information about Paladin.

New Android UCI engine: Embla 0.9.1.AB

Following a visitor's comment, i've tried the Android port of Embla yesterday without much luck.

The engine is written and maintained by Folkert van Heusden and various builds of Embla reside in his HOMEPAGE.

The Android build is compiled by Aart Bik according to the website. It targets arm5 and installs fine.

However, despite many efforts by other users as well as myself, there are issues:

* Takes all threads or just one after importing into Chess for Android,

* Hangs during Fischer clock games with black, no move with white,

* Plays fine vs human player using fixed time per move, but only with black.

You may download Embla for Android HERE and try for yourself if you're patient enough. Any clue about the issues will be welcome.

Android UCI/XB engine update: DanaSah 6.1

Pedro Casto updated his engine DanaSah to 6.1 a few days ago. Just like v6, this new version features UCI options as well.

DanaSah comes in two sub versions again: full strength and LS (for adjustuble limited strength). To tweak the LS version, i guess you need to install DanaSah as XB engine to parse the included configuration file. I didn't test it though as i'm only interested in the max strength.

You may download both sub versions and the optional xb config file: HERE

One last thing to notify is the book format which switched to polyglot (.bin). You may download the new DanaSah book HERE and copy it in a preferred folder on your device. The full path to the book must be set in engine configuration box of Chess for Android or via engine settings screen of Droidfish in case it's your GUI.

Android UCI engine update: K2 v0.83

K2 used to be one of a few chess engines badly ported to Android (like for instance Simplex). Latest version i'd known was 0.75 and it played very weird in Rapidroid, requiring many adjudications.

Unlike many others which just exit when the PV score is too high or too low, K2 used to resign by the usual "resign" command which is perfectly acknowledged by the GUI. A little problem here was that K2 decides to resign when winning instead of when losing, even when it comes very close to checkmating the opponent.

Besides, it lost several games where the PV score dropped suddenly from almost winning to clearly losing during middle game stage. The compile has serious issues indeed. The extremely low ELO of ~1450 puts the problem into numbers, given that CCRL rating of K2 is around 2500.

After this short session of complaints, let me express my high hopes about the new K2 version ported to Android, not by Jim Ablett this time but probably by its own author Sergey Maus. A few bullet matches have already shown that K2 v0.83 is free of bugs and will probably deliver 2400+ ELO on Android. 

I thank Alex for notifying me about the release and i can't wait to watch K2 causing some chaos in the relevant ELO segment.

Download K2 v0.83 for arm5: HERE

Chess for Android 5.2.3: Accurate time control for all engines

Better be late than sorry. I'm sure most of the engine testers have already downloaded and started to use the new version of Chess for Android during my 7 days delay.

This last one fixes the increment bug for the UCI engines. From now on, seconds will be interpreted by the engines as seconds and not milliseconds by mistake.

After this update, i've already started Rapidroid from scrath. At first sight, it looks insane since there are ~17000 games to replay but the advantage of using a unique time control saves me a lot of time because i don't have to play two tourneys for each division.

Another opportunity is to introduce all updates and new engines. These would cost a lot of time already but now it will be part of the main stream.

The new Chess for Android can be downloaded from GOOGLE PLAY.

I recall that the Google Play version does not allow remote engine control. The network version of CfA which provides with that feature is not yet available but i guess it will come soon.

Rapidroid to include 17 more engines, not very soon though

As my cellphone subscription doesn't allow roaming, the vacation days have partly been a good opportunity to use my Galaxy Note I as an alternative test device in order to find out how many previously disqualified engines can come back to life after the xboard time management fix of CfA.

So, here's a quick summary of what i did on my vacation:

* Qualified 20 Xboard engines: Beowulf, Bruja, Buzz, Carnivor, Darky, FairyMax, GES, Gfc, Gk, Gullydeckel, Laser, MicroMax, Mizar, Morphy, PurpleHaze, Romichess, Sjaak, Soldat, Sunsetter, Toledo

* Qualified 1 Xboard engine update: GreKo 2015 (long awaited step forward since 12.5)

* Qualified 3 UCI engine updates: Danasah 6, Rhetoric 1.4.3, Sayuri 2015.05.07

* Qualified 4 new UCI engines: Chiron 3, Cinnamon 2.0, Rodin 8.0, Danasah Random

* Abandoned 7 Xboard engines due to incompatibility with Fischer clocks: Danchess, Faile, Jester, Kitteneitor, Mango Paola, Witz, Woodpecker. Although they play well with fixed time per move setting, this secondary time control always acted as a handbrake in Rapidroid.

* Tested again 14 xboard engines without success: ChessOne, Chess Rikus, Dabbaba, Evolchess, Jfresh, Joanna, Kiwi, Minace, msKcp, Napoleon, Sachy, Wing, Xpdnt

This makes 125 Android engines in total and including 14 other standalone programs, next release will potentially include 139 programs.

Of course, this is possible if can manage to finish and process all necessary additional games. The task is scary but switching to a common time control may help go quicker.

Andoird UCI engine update: Sayuri 2016.05.07

Maybe Sayuri is the most flequently updated chess engine of all. The latest one is published on 7th of May. Thanks go to Alex for notifying about the update.

As the updates are frequent, the improvements that each one brings in may be limited to some ELOs. 

In Rapidroid, it's impossible for me to follow all Sayuri updates and i will finish testing 2016.04.09 for the moment.

Download Sayuri 2016.05.07: HERE

Android UCI engine update: Texel 1.06a45

This is the version of Texel which is currently playing at TCEC-9. Thanks to Hervé for sharing the information.

Download for arm7 32-bit: HERE

Download for arm8 64-bit: HERE

N.B.: Arm7 archive included arm8 build by error. I've just fixed it on May,13th...

Four days worth forgetting about chess

A view to the lake of Ohrid, Macedonia

After months of professional time pressure, i've finally found a few days to breathe and forget about everything that pulls my strings, facing above view. Indeed, it was fun to remember the meaning of the word "holidays".

Does Rapidroid require a refurbishing?

Due to the UCI time control management error of Chess for Android which has recently been identified thanks to Pedro, the author of DanaSah, i've got a little bit worried about the accuracy of Rapidroid for which i take heavy care from the beginning.

I finally concluded that there may be a slight error distributed on all UCI engines related to how many times they played against XB engines which support incremental clock, like ExChess, Crafty, Resp and some others.

This is simply related to the default setting of 900+2 of the experiment. The above mentioned bug of CfA implies that xb engines correctly use 2 seconds incremens while their UCI rivals use only 2 milliseconds. Although the unused difference is sent back with the following move to the engine via time command, overall time usage behaviour of UCI engines becomes less agressive than expected, leading to a slight accumulation.

In some extreme cases, i guess there may be up to 3 ELO loss for some UCI engines and up to 10 ELO gain for xb engines which play with incremental clock.

The unfair ELO gain doesn't apply to xb engines which play with time per move setting only.

In the big picture, there's nothing to worry about given that the overall statistical error margins are much wider, around +/- 30 ELO.

But i remain sceptical. As a corrective action, i already switched to 900+0 without increment in ongoing gauntlets of Cinnamon, Rhetoric and Sayuri. Until Aart Bik fixes CfA, i will keep 0 increment.

Regarding the XB engines, there are quite a lot to start playing incremental (Fischer) clock. I'm about to finish compatibility tests and approximately 90% of them can switch to the default time control of Rapidroid, which means most of the rounds can be played at once without splitting into two separate tournaments. Speed matters!

Another good news is that the last fix by Aart will probably add 15 more engines to the ranking.

And the bad news is the same, once again: Thousands of games must be replayed to reflect all the changes...

New Android UCI/XB engine: Rodin 8.0

Another nice finding for Android is Rodin 8.0 for which i own thanks to Hervé, a welcomed follower of the blog for notifying about it.

First of all, Herve must come by more frequently. He's got high potential to be a better fisherman  than me :-)

Regarding the engine, Rodin is under development since 2008. I don't know since when the author Fermin Serrano is intended to release Android compiles with it but there it is with v8.0.

The engine uses xboard protocol by default but the latest one works with uci as well. The first feedback by Hervé states the xb protocol hangs with Chess for Android. If so, uci may come to help although the same strength is not guaranteed yet.

One last thing to insist on xboard functionality might be to fine tune the cfg file provided in the package and install it in a second step after the engine, bearing in mind that some engines absolutely require auxiliary config files in the same folder.

Current CCRL rating of Rodin in 40/4 list is 2632. I would expect around 2570 for Rapidroid. To follow...

Download Rodin 8.0 for Android: HERE

RAPIDROID RELOADED: May-2016

Due to very few updates in the queue, i choose to skip a full update this month although the gauntlets are finished. There are no drastic changes after April.

However i owe the followers an information about Komodo 9.42: After 348 games replayed, it could not recover the gap against Stockfish 7. There are still 25 ELO remaining to catch the fish...

Android-only Top-10 is:


Ran Name                   Elo   +   -   gam  sco  oppo  dra
001 Stockfish 7            3336  37  35  348  84%  3075  29%
002 Komodo 9.42            3311  36  35  348  80%  3078  28%
003 Critter 1.6a           3139  30  30  348  57%  3097  46%
004 Sting SF 4.8.4 JA      3098  31  31  348  56%  3056  38%
005 Firenzina 2.4.1 xTreme 3093  30  30  348  51%  3092  47%
006 BlackMamba 2.0         3070  30  30  348  47%  3095  49%
007 Gull 3 x64 (syzygy)    3061  31  30  346  53%  3042  43%
008 Fritz 14               3052  30  30  348  47%  3077  47%
009 Texel 1.05             3031  31  31  348  49%  3045  35%
010 Senpai 1.0             2998  31  31  344  48%  3016  36%

TCEC-9 is on

TCEC Season-9 has just started on May,1st.

If you have missed the first days of the event, there's nothing to worry because the first weeks will feature qualifications where there will be no serious fights like Komodo vs Stockfish.

Given that biggest threats of three years ago like Houdini, Gull and Critter are not maintained by their authors, there's no improvement on the side of the rivals. So the show is expected to conclude with a superfinal between the fish and the reptile once again.

Nevertheless, TCEC remains the only competition played with extreme hardware at tournament time controls. This is simply the highest level of computer chess you can watch as of today!

You can watch TCEC games live: HERE

9 reasons for Kasparov to restart playing chess

Deep Blue stopped playing chess just after crushing Garry Kasparov. It had been dismantled decades ago.

Garry Kasparov stopped playing chess 8 years after losing to Deep Blue. He was not dismantled, he only focused his brain on other tasks.

After a long break, a blitz event organised as an extension of US Championship brought together the legendary WC of 80s and 90s and three leading US players, Caruana, Nakamura and So.

No doubt that it was a clever example of show business to increase public interest to chess in US considering that how strong GK can resist creates a magic dilemma about the outcome of such event.

In the end, GK not only showed a brilliant performance against three players from World's Top-10 ranking but he also demonstrated tactical players keep their playing level high much longer than positional players.

Now if GK decides to return to active chess playing, i'm sure that he will not regret. Even though he could not win that blitz tournament, all his games were attractive and addictive.

Just imagine what more he could deliver with more preparation...

Read more on CHESSBASE

Chiron 3 salutes Android

Nothing sounds better than another 3000+ ELO engine made available for Android. Please welcome Chiron and my thanks to Alex for the notification.

These are the good news. The bad news on the other side is that the engine is NOT FREE. It must be purchased via GOOGLE PLAY and just like Komodo, a licence check is necessary for getting it running under Chess for Android, Chessbase or Droidfish...

Now should we scream in agony with empty pockets? Nooo... Chiron for Android is absolutely not expensive: 3 EUR vs approx 30 EUR for the PC version is not significant.

If i call the above a bad news, there's nothing related to the cost. Actually if i'm not too comfortable with paid engines, that's because of the downloads via Google Play and online checking for every device i'm using for chess. It's not possible to duplicate it offline even after purchasing it for a device.

But we cares about installation ergonomics? I'm happy i can introduce another strong engine in Rapidroid, probably in June-2016 ranking.

Acid Ape Chess: Beta 9 is out

Acid Ape Chess, the rising star of the chess GUI's available for Android has just been updated to Beta 9, though we don't know what are the improvements over Beta 8. So, let's assume they are minor bug fixes.

The app is completely free and available on GOOGLE PLAY.